An 18th century red and white silk panel

A precious silk cloth with a red background weft and a white pattern weft laid on top forming a design of a military camp, with cannons and weapons.

The panel came from a remarkable collection of the old Maison de Hamot, precious fabric merchants in Paris from the time of Louis XV. The panel used to have a label âMaison de Hamotâ, which has been lost.

It was probably woven in a pattern that was alternating. The trunk of the tree with its bare branches form a sinusoid with the same pattern in each concavity, every other time in the altering order. At the bottom right hand corner, one can recognize a grenadierâs fur hat, as well as the gun bayonet on the grenadierâs shoulder and also the edges of three ancillary tools of the canon, which are, most likely, fragments of the grenadierâs implements on the top left corner. The size of the repeat pattern would have been probably about 250cm. Such an unusually large repeat makes the design very rare, and it must have cost a huge sum to be made.

A textile expert, Xavier Petitcol, who was in charge of the distribution of the entire collection for ten years up until the Drouot sales in 2003, has never come across a textile design like this panel and considers the piece most unique.

The panel probably commemorates a precise event in military history. The pattern above the entrance door to the tent and the flag that floats atop could provide some clues. Mr Peticol believes that the textile was woven for one of Louis XV generals possibly Eugene de Savoie or the Marechal de Saxe.